Program gives troubled vets a lifeline

Wednesday

Mar 13, 2013 at 6:00 AMMar 13, 2013 at 9:02 AM

After returning from a tour of duty in Afghanistan in 2002, Jamie Beckman said, he found himself dealing with anger issues. “I was really just stuck in this angry, angry place,” he said. After learning about the Mission Direct Vet program, he decided to give it a try. He was reluctant to talk about his innermost feelings when he first entered the program, but eventually he opened up, he said.

By Gary V. Murray TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

After returning from a tour of duty in Afghanistan in 2002, Jamie Beckman said, he found himself dealing with anger issues and having a difficult time readjusting to civilian and family life.

The Worcester man began drinking heavily, popping painkillers and getting in fights, which landed him in jail for 30 days.

“I was really just stuck in this angry, angry place,” he said.

After learning about the Mission Direct Vet program, he decided to give it a try. He was reluctant to talk about his innermost feelings when he first entered the program, but eventually he opened up, he said.

“I really just kind of blossomed from there. After a while, my anger started melting away. It was nice to have other vets to talk to who were going through the same things I was going through,” Mr. Beckman said.

The Central District Court program provides alternatives to incarceration for veterans with trauma-related mental health and substance abuse issues who run afoul of the law. It was highlighted Tuesday at the courthouse by John W. Polanowicz, the state's newly appointed secretary of health and human services and a West Point graduate and onetime Army helicopter company commander.

Administered by the state Department of Mental Health with a grant from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the program provides eligible veterans who find themselves in the criminal justice system with treatment and services as an alternative to a jail sentence.

Since its inception in Worcester County in 2010, 56 area veterans have successfully completed the program, according to Dr. Debra Pinals, assistant commissioner of forensic mental health services for the DMH. Statewide, more than 100 veterans have benefited from Mission Direct Vet, she said.

Mr. Polanowicz said the stories shared Tuesday showed the “very positive impact” programs such as Mission Direct Vet can have on people's lives.

Dr. Pinals said the five-year federal grant that funded the Worcester program and similar programs in Hampshire, Franklin and Essex counties will run out in September, but that Gov. Deval L. Patrick has included $500,000 in his fiscal 2014 budget to allow for their continuation.

Mr. Polanowicz said the governor has been extremely supportive of veterans. “And, as a veteran myself, I think that's critical,” he said

Mr. Beckman stopped drinking and taking drugs, and successfully graduated from the yearlong program just over a year ago.

The once angry man now describes himself as “happy-go-lucky” with a new lease on life.

“I'm not saying I'm perfect now, 'cause I'm not. But I know how to cope now. I don't have to go out and get drunk or throw some Percocets down my throat. Thanks to the program, I found my way back,” he said.

Joe Manos of Westboro, an Air Force veteran, said he returned from military service with post-traumatic stress issues that had not been addressed and a drinking problem that resulted in a drunken-driving arrest.

“I was in a self-destructive mode,” he said. “In six months in jail, I could feel myself changing from a soccer dad to someone who had to survive where I was, and that wasn't where I wanted to be,” he said.

Mr. Manos got into the Mission Direct Vet program and completed it last June. He said he's still sober and feeling much better about himself these days.

Panelists at the roundtable discussion included DMH Commissioner Marcia Fowler, Judge David P. Despotopoulos, Judge Jennifer L. Ginsburg, Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr., Dr. David Smelson, professor and vice chairman of clinical research in the psychiatry department at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and others directly involved in the program.

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